Certified junkologist or historian?

Tuesday

Sep 12, 2017 at 11:00 AM

Nancy Hastings nhastings@hillsdale.net nhastingsHDN

There’s an old saying, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” that has a meaning which has been lost to time. The meaning is not literal but, typically, a commentary on how there is no judging for taste – what one person may think is worthless may be cherished by another.

This realization came to the forefront after a jaunt back home to Michigan after visiting an Indiana town filled with history.

Metamora, an unincorporated village in southeast Indiana, is a pre-civil-war canal boat town on the Whitewater Canal. Established in 1838, the village has been a popular tourist destination since the 1960's.

The town has, nevertheless, remained intact as a kind of time travel, unlike other tourist places that continue to grow as visitors commercialize surroundings. The Indiana State Historic Site has a gristmill and canal boat ride (both currently under renovations) and more than 30 stores.

Wednesday through Sunday you can visit the gristmill and pick up a bag of their freshly stone-ground cornmeal or flour. Once it's back in order, you can take a ride in the canal boat through the only existing wooden aqueduct in the United States. On the weekends, you can board the train for a short trip on the Whitewater Railroad. And, on most any day during the year, you can take in the lush scenery of the Whitewater River Valley on the 2.6 mile rustic hiking and biking trail along the historic Whitewater Canal.

Along with all the historical features and attractions in Metamora, you will find numerous businesses consisting of shops, eateries and lodging.

Each business owner sets their own hours of operation. A few are open during the week, while most are only open on the weekends. For most businesses, the season runs from June to December.

One of the stores, located on Lover's Lane, is called Meeting House Antiques. Owner Dave Henniger calls himself a certified junkologist. He has everything from antiques, rocks, records, relics, artifacts and other oddities.

The building itself is worth a mention, as the peeling and faded wallpaper gives way to what early settlers may have gazed upon while attending church there in the 1800s. Primitive stained glass windows and high rafters give a hint of what buildings back then were made of and the sweat equity that made them still stand to this day.

Inside, it's like being in a picker's haven. Only those with a keen eye could probably tell the difference between the antiques and the vintage items. But to Henninger, they are all commodities – and that goes for the things he makes, too.

If you mention liking bluegrass music, he's likely to bring out his one-of-a-kind Stumpf fiddle and play it to a compact disc. It's a kind of walking stick with a rubber ball at the bottom and a bell, horn, woodblock, springs and a tin pan drum. He said he's made several over the years.

While some may think it's just a bunch of junk to make noise, he sees it as an instrument to have fun with. At best, it's a great conversation piece with history that goes back in time.

Other shops in Metamora today include hand-made gemstone jewelry (made while you watch on weekends) and bath and body products in the same store that wows tourists with the unique handmade wood clocks with old computer parts.

One store has a collection of more than 2,100 cookie jars, mostly made in the USA, along with yummy flavors of ice cream products that draw people back to town time and again. One can also watch a copper-smith at work fabricating beautiful, unique products.

Between at least seven antique shops, there's probably at least one example of every gadget ever manufactured in the last century.

It just goes to show that history of a bygone era has charm. And whether some of the stuff there is junk or antique, it's fun knowing that the community still exists as a part of living history.

— Nancy Hastings is a Daily News staff writer and can be reached at nhastings@hillsdale.net. Follow her on Twitter: @nhastingsHDN.

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